President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that puts a pause on his closing of the de minimis trade exemption.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order delaying tariffs on de minimis, or low-cost, packages from China until the Commerce Department can confirm that procedures and systems are in place to process packages and collect tariff revenue.

President Donald Trump on Friday reversed his decision to eliminate the “de minimis” loophole that allowed packages from China valued at under $800 to be processed without customs duties or tariffs—a component of the 10% tariff on Chinese imports that took effect Tuesday.

The trade loophole is meant to ease small-scale sales — but critics say it's been abused and gives Chinese firms an unfair advantage.

Here’s how to understand de minimis and how it turbocharged bargain platforms Shein and Temu.

U.S. President Donald Trump this week shut a trade loophole that has been used to ship low-value packages duty-free from China, the "de minimis" exemption on import tariffs. Trump's halt to Section 321 de minimis is part of his implementation of an additional 10% tariff on China and 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico,

This chart shows countries applying a "de minimis" exception of taxes and/or duties* for incoming shipments of smaller value.